Paul Giamatti, playing an actor named Paul GIamatti, prepares to enter the Soul Extractor in “Cold Souls,” which may actually open at the Bijou on Friday after being taken off the schedule twice in October.

Lots of movie-related odd-and-ends that I meant to tack onto the “More Than a Game” item but didn’t because it was already long enough:

 LeBron note: Here’s how unpublicized the hoops documentary was  I found out completely by accident, as I mentioned yesterday. Its opening last Friday at the Fiesta 16 was also news to Kiko Martinez, a San Antonio-based film critic and writer, until he saw my item. What’s noteworthy about that is that Martinez interviewed the director, Kristopher Belman. Here’s his Q&A.

 Jackson rules, sort of: Depending on whom you talk to, “MIchael Jackson’s This Is It” was either a solid box-office performer or a bit of a disappointment. The behind-the-scenes look at the King of Pop’s comeback that never was won the weekend, earning $23.2 million Friday through Sunday. It has taken in $34.4 million since its opening a week ago.

“We couldn’t be more pleased  a tremendous result,” Rory Bruer, Sony’s president for worldwide distribution, told the New York Times. He added that judging the domestic performance a disappointment was “not fair at all,” as it fell within the studio’s projections. “This was always a worldwide play,” he said, referring to the film’s international debut (with gala premieres around the world) and its international box office, which was double what the film made in America.

Yet the same article termed the results “solid, if unspectacular.”

Writer Brooks Barnes noted, “Even though the film was No. 1, Hollywood was quick to judge the result a disappointment. Sony had done everything it could to promote the picture as a must-see event, fanning interest by releasing it with a stunt (a supposedly limited theatrical run of only two weeks) and by generating enormous news-media coverage by staging 17 premieres around the world.”

As for that supposedly limited run, Sony has already announced that “This Is It” will be extended through Thanksgiving.

 “Paranormal” update: The Jackson flick knocked “Paranormal Activity” down to No. 2, but fans can take heart that the micro-budget horror flick hasn’t lost its buzz just yet. The film may have earned $16.4 million to Jackson’s $23.2 last weekend, but the Jackson flick played at a thousand more locations. “Paranormal” actually did slightly better per screen  $6,817 to $6,675.

 Art cinema? The “More Than a Game” situation underscores a larger issue  this is a tough town for film buffs. Limited-release films  the ones that open in a few markets (usually New York, L.A. and a handful of others) and spread out if the distributors deem there’s significant interest  are harder to pin down than a bat in the AT&T Center on Halloween. And I don’t have a movie-biz Manu Ginobili to swat them down and make them behave.

Case in point: “Cold Souls,” a comedy starring some obscure actor named Paul Giamatti, suddenly jumped back onto the schedule this morning after falling off twice. The second time it vaporized, two weeks ago, the studio publicist said it probably would never open here. Roger Ebert reviewed it in August, when it opened in Chicago; why it’s turning up now is a head-scratcher.

For the record, Ebert liked “Cold Souls,” giving it three stars. Find his full review here. Here’s his capsule review:

Paul Giamatti plays an actor named Paul Giamatti, who gets stuck in a role by Chekhov and bargains to have his soul extracted to lighten his burden. David Strathairn plays the scientist who runs Soul Storage, which performs this service, and both actors treat the premise as perfectly reasonable. A first feature directed and written by Sophie Barthes, who takes her notion and runs with it, while Giamatti and Strathairn follow fearlessly.

Here’s what’s currently playing at the “art cinema”  the Jackson flick, “Cirque du Freak,” “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Amelia.” Wide releases, all.The only actual art films at the art cinema are the Coens’ “A Serious Man,” the award-winning French film “Seraphine” and Chris Rock’s “Good Hair.” And how self-defeating is it to tout an adult-friendly ambience and then screen “Where the Wild Things Are”? That audience has to be all parents with kids. Drives us crazy here in Weekender Land.

 One more Bijou note: The last advance schedule I received two weeks ago listed “More Than a Game” as opening there this Friday. We’ll see. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find out if it’ll stick around at the Fiesta 16. Probably; the Fiesta 16 hangs onto limited-release films for awhile. It has been showing the rock ‘n’ roll documentary “It Might Get Loud” since September. I need to swing by and see that one before it goes away.